The present Constitution of Zimbabwe became fully operational on the 22nd August 2013, having been assented to on the 22nd May 2013, by the President as the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act, and published on that same day.

Details

Clause 1

This clause sets out the Bill’s short title.

Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

These clauses dispense with the “running-mate” concept of the Vice-Presidency.

Instead, the 2 Vice-Presidents will be chosen on the President’s own authority.

Clauses 9

This clause adopts the provisions of paragraph 14 of the 6th Schedule to the Constitution as the operative provisions relating to the question of the succession to the Presidency (given that the Vice-Presidents are not elected as running mates).

Clause 10

Under this clause, the President may appoint up to 7 (instead of 5) additional Ministers from outside Parliament.

Clause 11

This clause extends the provision for the party-list women members of the National Assembly by another two extra Parliaments (from 2 to 4 Parliaments), and makes provision for the party-list representation of youths in the National Assembly.

Clause 12

This clause de-couples ZEC’s delimitation function from the population census held every 10 years.

Clause 13

This clause will allow the President acting on the recommendation of the JSC to appoint sitting judges to vacancies in the higher courts, without subjecting them to the public interview procedure.

Clause 14

This clause will allow Judges of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court to extend their tenure after reaching the age of 70 annually for up to 5 years, subject to a favorable medical report as to the mental and physical fitness of the judge so to continue in office.

Clause 15

This clause rewords the functions of the Public Service (previously called the Civil Service).

Clause 16

This clause provides for the appointment and role of the Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet and his or her deputies.

Clauses 17 and 18

These clauses create the office of the Public Protector, who will take over certain functions concerning public maladministration, etc, from the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.

Clause 19

This clause will provide for the appointment of the Prosecutor-General by the President on the advice of the JSC, without the intervention of a public interview procedure, and makes special provision for his or her removal for cause by a Tribunal.

Clauses 20, 21, 22 and 25

These clauses remove members of Parliament from the membership of provincial councils, merge the provisions relating to provincial and metropolitan councils by removing the special provisions relating to the latter (they will no longer be chaired by mayors, but be elected in terms of section 272 like provincial councils), and provide for the election of 10 of the members of Metropolitan Councils by a system of party-list proportional representation.

Clause 23

This clause uses the defined term “international organizations” in subsection (3)(a) instead of “foreign organizations or entities”, which term is undefined in the Constitution.

Clause 24

This clause repeals the definition of “Civil Service” and replaces it with a definition of “Public Service”.

Clause 27 and Schedule

This clause provides for minor amendments to the Constitution (mainly the substitution of references to the “Civil Service” or “Civil Service Commission” by references to the “Public Service” and “Public Service Commission”)